Guest-mudgeon Brad Ward has
an L of a time...
Please explain to me how the word
almond... with the L sounded has now ended up in the Webster dictionary pronounced as "amond"? Same with
palm, calm, etc... now pronounced "pam" and "cam" with the
A sounding like
"aahhh". This is how Northeasterners [U.S.] pronounce these words. I am from Pennsylvania
and grew up being taught that almond, palm and calm all are pronounced with
the L sounded. I have been arguing with my mother-in-law (from New
York City) about this pronunciation for years. I swear I saw an older 1950's dictionary
showing the L as sounded in these words. When did it change? My pet peeve is when we change the pronunciation of words over time to fit the
"common" pronunciation due to regional accents rather than teaching people
to overcome the accent and enunciate properly. Improper enunciation has lead to reading problems with our children as more and more words are not
spelled the same as they are pronounced...too many letters in words that are
"silent"...
We both [Malcolm and
Barb] agree
with you about pronunciation. Words should be pronounced properly
and syllables and letters should not be elided!
Don't tell Melanie
and Mike, though. They'll say, "Yes, it is unfortunate, but
it's the evolution of language, and it has been happening since the
"birth" of English over one thousand years ago."
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